How to Watermark Photos: Visible but Not Distracting

It's impossible to fully stop an image shared online from being copied, but a watermark shows who it belongs to and discourages unauthorized use. A good watermark protects the image without distracting the viewer.

Watermark types

• Text watermark: your name, username or web address. Quick and suits any image.
• Logo watermark: a PNG logo with a transparent background. Stronger for brand recognition.

Placement

For portfolios and social media, a corner or subtle center watermark is usually enough. For drafts sent to clients for approval, diagonal tiling is safer.

Opacity and size

• Keeping opacity between 20% and 40% makes the watermark visible without dominating the image.
• Size the watermark relative to the image width so it looks consistent across images of different sizes.
• Use a dark watermark on light images and a light one on dark images.

Things to keep in mind

• Keep the original file: always watermark a copy.
• Apply it consistently in bulk: the same position and opacity across a series looks professional.
• A watermark isn't the only protection: not sharing high-resolution files of important work also helps.

With the Add Watermark to Image tool you can add a text or transparent PNG logo watermark in one of 9 positions or as diagonal tiling, adjust opacity, size and angle, and apply it to many images at once. Images are never uploaded to a server.